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Zac Efron: Not 'Likely' to Be in Full Metal Panic! Project
posted on by Egan Loo
Actor Zac Efron (High School Musical, Hairspray, 17 Again) told MTV Splash Page that it is still "very early" to discuss Mandalay Pictures' rights to adapt Shoji Gatoh's Full Metal Panic! high school action comedy light novels into a live-action film. While he acknowledges he did have "a meeting on something" for the project, he noted that the project is "to the point where it's more than likely not going to happen." He did emphasize that he is "a huge comic book and manga fan" since he was 10 years old.
The Hollywood Reporter newspaper revealed Mandalay's acquisition of the live-action film rights last week. The story centers around a brusque young sergeant named Sousuke Sagara who must protect an assertive high school girl named Chidori Kaname by masquerading (somewhat unsuccessfully) as a high school student himself. Shikidouji illustrated the original novels that Tokyopop published. ADV Manga released both the first manga adaptation from Retsu Tateo and Full Metal Panic: Overload! manga spinoff from Tomohiro Nagai in North America. ADV Films and Funimation have split the North American DVD releases of the three television anime series between the two of them.
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